Southern California's Malik Martin embraces Southern California's Nikola Jovanovic (32) after their team defeated Arizona State in an NCAA college basketball game in the first round of the Pac-12 conference tournament Wednesday, March 11, 2015, in Las Vegas. USC won 67-64. Arizona State's Jonathan Gilling is at left. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Southern California's Julian Jacobs shoots against Arizona State's Savon Goodman (11) in the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in the first round of the Pac-12 Conference tournament Wednesday, March 11, 2015, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)

The Trojans had not advanced past the first day of the conference tourney since the league expanded before the 2011-12 season. They had slumped into the MGM Grand Garden Arena this year as the No. 12 seed, their third last-place regular-season finish in four years.

But with a 67-64 upset of fifth-seeded Arizona State on Wednesday, USC got a taste of postseason victory. The team had lost to seven conference opponents by five points or fewer this season. Finally, it broke through.

Led by freshman Elijah Stewart’s career-high 27 points, the Trojans (12-19) opened up their best stretch of basketball this season. They erased a double-digit deficit in less than four minutes, and closed the game on a 21-4 run. They earned a shot at No. 4-seed UCLA in Thursday’s 2:30 p.m. quarterfinal.

On the other end, the Sun Devils (17-15) looked shell-shocked. They had led for more than 30 minutes. Backed against the wall, they tossed up bad shot after bad shot. Down by one with 35 seconds left, ASU missed a layup and a jumper before calling timeout. Senior guard Shaquielle McKissic got the ball, and drove in for one more layup. USC’s Nikola Jovanovic knocked it away.

Stewart made two more free throws, and the Trojans’ bench erupted as McKissic’s desperation 3-pointer rattled out. Arizona State shot 30.3 percent in the second half; USC shot 57.7.

“Our defense certainly did not meet standards or expectations in the second half,” said ASU head coach Herb Sendek.

“We had a 15-point lead,” McKissic said. “I can’t really explain how that evaporated so quickly.”

It was the biggest win in what has been a sour start to Andy Enfield’s tenure in Los Angeles.

Two years ago, Enfield had arrived as one of the hottest names on the college coaching carousel — his Sweet 16 run and press-friendly backstory overshadowing his lack of experience. In just his second season at Florida Gulf Coast, he had guided the Eagles to a thrilling postseason run. He was the architect of “Dunk City,” the tech entrepreneur, the model’s husband. On the surface, an easy sell.

“Those in the basketball world have known of his abilities for a while,” USC athletic director Pat Haden said after the hire, which is about as close to bragging as any official announcement gets.

The experiment has not gone well.

Before Wednesday, Enfield had coached the Trojans through 62 games. He has won 22 of them, with only five of those victories coming against conference opponents. To put that in perspective, every other Pac-12 team earned at least five conference wins this season alone.

One could hardly blame fans for averting their eyes. The Galen Center drew an average attendance of 3,552 in 2014-15, fewer than every Pac-12 program except Washington State. In Las Vegas, the USC student section looked about 20 strong, minus the band.

For the first time in a long time, the homebodies might have missed out. Stewart, a four-star recruit out of Westchester, looked like a player who had finally figured out how he fits at the college level. Sophomore Julian Jacobs had 12 points, and came alive late; in the last six minutes, he notched four points, two rebounds and two assists.

“We’ve never felt better about the future of our basketball program than right now,” Enfield said.

Jack Wang covers the Chargers, the latest NFL team to relocate to Los Angeles. He previously covered the Rams, and also spent four years on the UCLA beat, a strange period in which the Bruins' football program often outpaced their basketball team. He is a proud graduate of UC Berkeley, where he spent most of his time in The Daily Californian offices in Eshleman Hall — a building that did not become earthquake-safe until after his time on campus.

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